August 12th, 2021
Did you know the definition of the word Milestone according to Merriam Webster is:
1: a stone serving as a milepost, 2: a significant point in development
The journey of Dipping Spoon has been just that. A series of milestones large and small.
For those that are new here (it me, #ChayBlay is new on Stubstack) I am the founder of nonprofit, Dipping Spoon Foundation.
Our mission is identifying and cultivating the next generation of Black, Indigenous, Women of Color and Girls to become culinary rockstars by providing aspiring chefs between 18-26 years old with a full ride culinary and pastry arts scholarship and shifting culture by creating access to inclusive and dynamic FoodSTEM programs rooted in Cultural Identity, Food Sovereignty, Food Science and Food Math for BIPOC Girls and Boys through 8th-11th grade.
My curiosity for social impact change has been a journey of development with many mileposts and series of startup nonprofit milestones spread out far and wide and accompanied by vivid terrain ranging from first tracks, class 5 rapids with black suction cyclone wormholes ready to drown and gobble you up to the annoying,
“by all means please move at a glacial pace.”Needless to say it's been a journey and quest personally and professionally joined with mental grit and deep emotional strength.
Memes are circulating the internet and social media platforms daily highlighting the atrocities and dark comedic humor of 2020, 2021 and the upcoming 2022.
I feel the sorrow and laughter deeply; however, nothing can or will trump the Thrill, Pride and Joy that is mine to have successfully founded, built and created a Black Indigenous Woman led and owned digitally native nonprofit organization born on the internet from a mustard seed rooted in identity, access, fun and cultural + gender representation by tapping into our unique magic.
A goddam milestone.
Fall 2019 I was chosen as a TRESemme and Vital Voices Global Partnership Leadership Incubator Fellow for 2020. VV invests in women leaders who are solving the world’s greatest challenges – from gender-based violence to the climate crisis, economic inequities, and more. They are “venture catalysts,” who identify those with daring visions for change and partnering with them to make that vision a reality. Their leadership, support and sisterhood has given me confidence to keep nurturing and watering Dipping Spoon. Especially as I dipped into unknown startup nonprofit territory with my startup nonprofit VC’s.
A milestone which has changed my life exponentially.
Look at the Angelina power pose btw.
The NEXT Generation of Venture Catalysts plugging time in with Executive VP & COO of Personal Care for Unilever North America, Esi Eggleston Bracey. She is seasoned executive leader with 27 years of experience in general management and brand building. She currently leads the multi-billion dollar Personal Care portfolio for Unilever North America. Ms. Esi Bracey is an athlete, an avid disciplined runner and lover of shoes and personal style. I saw myself in her. It was an incredible honor. Look at my smile. To be in the presence of her and my Leadership Incubator Fellowship sisters was one for the memory books.
Summer 2021 I held our first IRL and virtual fundraiser located in Alaska, planned entirely while biking and running through the pandemic streets with my woes from New Orleans and Hawaii. My mission: to create awareness, excitement, raise funds and bring a unique event to Alaska centered around food, hospitality, culinary education and food media. It wasn't without its woes, there were many but we were successful in our mission. I wanted to show tangible avenues of culinary careers from all angles and industries. I can't thank Bravo Top Chef AllStar Chef Nini Nguyen, Chef Tess Mahoney, Filmmaker Joanna James and her team from A Fine Line Movie, Beartooth Restaurant, Altura Bistro, Kirsten and Mandy Dixon and Tikigaq Corporation. Quyana.
A Milestone of epic proportions.
Mentorship arrives in your life when you need it the most and from an honest place. Mentorship is also where the Mentee must utilize their (hi, I’m the mentee!) mental grit and deep emotional strength to allow for growth, constructive criticism and shared belief in pursuing excellence. Collaborating with Chef Nini Nguyen on our first IRL fundraiser humbled me as an event organizer, communicator and host. She is beautifully talented, deeply curious, unapologetically funny and one the hardest working chefs women in this industry trailblazing her career uniquely hers as multi-hyphenate. Chef Nini is direct and I should expect nothing less. She is a Chef.
IRL it was hard y’all, not going to lie. It was hard but not breaking. Her toughnes was a gut punch and the punch I needed to hear. “You have to do the work. You’re going to fuck up, people are going say things, but fuck them. You have to do the work. No one is going is going to do the work for you. Own up to your shit, learn from it, and keep doing the work because you’re going to get everything you want. You just have to do the work.” It was a privilege and honor to partner with Chef to execute Dipping Spoon’s mission.
Chef Nini Ngyuen is a Recipe Developer, Educator, Consultant and New Orleans native. You can support her work by visiting her online bodega where you can view and purchase her Live Virtual Classes, On Demand and Private classes. Linked here — Cooking With Nini.
Fall 2021, more specifically the September month of Virgo, my upcoming birth month, Dipping Spoon has reached another milestone. We've entered in partnership with the Lower Kuskokwim School District, Alaska's largest rural school district in the number of schools, students and staff to inaugurate our Dip Into Culture FoodSTEM program and after school club, #SelfFSTEAM, for BIPOC girls and boys between 8th-11th grade with LKSD's Gear Up.
GEAR UP is the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Program. It is funded by a federal 7 year grant that is designed to help students learn about post secondary educational opportunities and pathways.
In addition to that facet the grant also assists by promoting programming and services that help foster students' education in STEM and ELA.
Our Dip Into Culture #SelfFSTEAM program is shifting culture by creating access to inclusive and dynamic FoodSTEM programs rooted in Cultural Identity, Food Sovereignty, Food Science and Food Math. #SelfFSTEAM is an inclusive after school club which celebrates culture, nature, identity and the earth through Food and STEAM: Food, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math. Food is a mechanism to learn, teach, understand, share and not just eat.
The possibilities for post secondary business opportunities in food are beyond restaurant and hospitality, they're all around us in every industry. It is my personal goal to build, create, and implement culturally relevant programming and curriculum in partnership with stakeholders and higher institutions to grow and scale #SelfFSTEAM into a national program pertinent to the needs of each BIPOC community. The next generation of food culinary is here.
A Milestone on its way to reshape Gastro Diplomacy.
#Blavity CEO and Business advisor Morgan DeBaun recently shared a Darrel Austin Jr quote on her Work Smart Advisor Instagram,
"When you believe in yourself, your community will invest in you."The blood, sweat, tears, and doubt were worth it and still are.
A milestone.
The Black Indigenous Yupik girl you see in the photograph below DID ALL OF THAT! A milestone driving our ancestors wild with dance, feasting and song.
In the words of Kamala celebrating with Joe, slighlty edited, “You Did it Chay Blay.”
A Milestone.
Keep it going girl!